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Tao
"It's not so bad being stuck in here...I always wanted to be a ninja!" Tao was an exemplar of her race; graceful, charming, quick-witted and insatiably curious as one would expect from a nekomimi. Known for her silver tongue and honeyed words, as well as being quick with a blade and vicious efficiency, she was viewed with an equal measure of awe and fear depending on with side of the spectrum you caught her at. According to her rp back story, she was raised on the streets on Pontera and was nothing more then an urchin who made a living in her early years exploiting her charms and grace to woo passers by before liberating them of a few valuables so she could eat for a few nights. A tough upbringing like that bred a sense of certainty and survival, something that suited her well later on when she discovered an assassin mentor willing to take the young kit under his wing and teach her the ways of the shadows. Talented with the blade (both in-game and in reality), and skilled at weaving around enemies or leading them astray with her words, she was quick to master the assassin arts and rapidly rose to make a name for herself as a skilled infiltrator and duelist among the player population. While she deeply enjoyed the concept of PvP...the game itself made things difficult with player deaths potentially being very, very real. She wasn't a murderer after all, she just happen to enjoy the competitive nature of PvP combat. The concept of PK'ing disgusted her as a result, where was the fun in a fight when the only goal was to outright kill the other person for no specific gain? PK'ing guilds and mindsets baffle her...who would willing choose to be a murderer? Because they could get away with it since it was 'just a game'? While not an obsessed PKK'er, she certainly didn't hold back when confronted with a PK'er...though she does try to refrain from outright killing them if she can (not always an option sadly giving some PK'er mental instability). Outside on the battlefield she moonlights as an informant for the Whispers guild, a guild credited largely with the games major information trade. Her talent for drawing out information from unsuspecting targets, and her talents for going unnoticed or sneaking into all manner of places made her rather invaluable to the guild and its efforts though she wasn't actually a member of it. She held no lasting ties to any guild really, several of them had employed her talents for various reasons but none had been able to convince her to join their cause as of yet. She had been keeping an eye on a small player group who's notoriety had been rising as of late; the repairs to Morroc's damaged portal, the defeat of the 3 great undead creatures plaguing the land, the defeat of VAS's guild leader and their victory at the battle of Geffen (which she participated in of course)...this tiny group of misfits had accomplished so much in such a short time and were talking of forming a proper guild for themselves. Maybe she'd finally found a guild to call her own finally, or maybe they were just a bunch of ungodly lucky idiots who scraped by just barely each time, either way....she wanted to know their secrets. There seem to be more then a few in-game rumors about her romantic involvement with the guild leader Chrome for whatever reason, but nothing has been proven as fact to this date. While she may have had frequent employment by the Eternal Despair guild, many attribute this to her need for gear vs a true romantic intention. Chrome thus far has denied any involvement with a free lancer of Tao's level, though both parties enjoy each-others company during downtimes between raids at Comodo. Either party refuses to give further details... IRL Tao doesn't talk about her life outside of the game much, but people have been able to piece together a few things about her: She's most likely American by how she talks and her occasional pop culture references, she's not much older or younger then what her game avatar looks like (she admitted once that she recreated herself with a few little quirks) and she loves competition more then anything. In reality, all these facts are mostly true. She was born and raised in Boston, is in her early 20's and her love for competition stems from growing up with 3 older, sports-inclined brothers. They didn't compete for love or attention from their parents, they simply competed because it was fun and it gave them goals to work towards. Sports, video games, school...everything was a challenge that could be used. Tao herself is an accomplished gymnast, dancer, and has trained heavily in the Kali form of martial arts (using 2 weapons), making her fighting style and grace within the game seem much more natural and fluid compared to others. Character Stats Race: Nekomimi Base Class: Thief Job: Assassin Level: 7 HP: 52 Fighting Style: Kali (dual-weapon fighting) Equipment Chest Slot: Replica Iga Ningi +2 (Shadowed, Glamoured) Right/Left Hand: Gemini Talon +2 (Keen, Doubling) Known Limit Breaks Chimatsuri (月遁血祭/ Blood Festival): This gruesome limit break was something she first revealed during a heated late-tier pvp tournament and combines a charge, feint and her typical 'double strike' attack. Visually it looks like she charges down her target at first...an aura of bluish ki energy wrapping around her body as her avatar seems to flicker about randomly along the path she's moving before she simply vanishes from sight for a brief moment, reappearing behind her target with blades drawn. A moment later her target explodes in a rain of blood from slashes across both the front and back, large enough to paint a large 'X' on the ground around them. While the attack itself isn't overly deadly, the demoralizing visuals are incredibly unsettling to witness and have earned her a degree of caution from fellow tournament participants. She hasn't actually killed anyone with it to date, though she's come uncomfortably close in a few instances (healers are always on-call and readying actions during any of her tournament fights just in case).